the region. he is in new york this morning. i have david brooks of "the new york times"ande.j. dionnewithme in washington. richard, let me start with you. the president called on israel to renew efforts to the creation of a palestinian state. he helped restore the israeli/turkish relationship. so what else do you think he can return with that he can actually build upon? >> reporter: well, i think the reconciliation between turkey and israel is something that's very important because i wouldn't see the chances right now of an israeli/palestinian reconciliation but i do think the middle east recognizes that there are urgent regional matters as syria implodes that the region needs to have some sort of summit and turkey is going to play a big part of that. so i think coming out of this, you're going to see istanbul emerging as a major destination for diplomatic relations. i think that was the way to do the middle east trip right now in a regional contrast not so much about getting israelis and palestinians to talk. >> and, richard, you talk about some of the private discussions going on